Does higher income inequality adversely influence infant mortality rates? Reconciling descriptive patterns and recent research findings
Does higher income inequality adversely influence infant mortality rates? Reconciling descriptive patterns and recent research findings
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DOI：
10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.010
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发表时间：
2015-04-01
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Erwin, Paul Campbell
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Siddiqi, Arjumand;Jones, Marcella K.;Erwin, Paul Campbell
随着这场斗争继续解释美国相对较高的婴儿死亡率(IMR)，人们再次强调可能的“背景”决定因素的作用。横截面和短时间序列研究发现，收入不平等程度越高，州一级的IMR就越高。然而，说明性地说，收入不平等和IMR的较长期趋势似乎对这些结果提出了质疑。评估在1990-2007年期间，州一级的收入不平等是否与州一级的IMR有关；检查这一时期收入不平等对IMR的总体影响是否因州而异；检验收入不平等与IMR之间的关联是否在这段时间内不同。IMR数据-给定州和年份每1000名活产儿的死亡人数-来自美国疾病控制中心的Wonder数据库。收入不平等是用基尼系数来衡量的，基尼系数从零(完全平等)到100(完全不平等)不等。协变量包括州级贫困率、收入中位数和高中毕业生比例。采用固定效应回归和随机效应回归来检验假设。固定效应模型表明，总体而言，在1990-2007年期间，收入不平等与IMR呈负相关(β=-0.07，SE(0.01))。随机效应模型表明，当允许这种关系在州一级变化时，它仍然是相反的(Beta=-0.05，SE(0.01))。然而，收入不平等与时间之间的相互作用表明，随着时间的增加，收入不平等的影响与总IMR具有越来越正的相关性(Beta=0.009，SE(0.002))。国家收入不平等对IMR的影响依赖于时间，这可能代表了社会背景中依赖时间的方面。(C)2015爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。
As the struggle continues to explain the relatively high rates of infant mortality (IMR) exhibited in the United States, a renewed emphasis is being placed on the role of possible 'contextual' determinants. Cross-sectional and short time-series studies have found that higher income inequality is associated with higher IMR at the state level. Yet, descriptively, the longer-term trends in income inequality and in IMR seem to call such results into question. To assess whether, over the period 1990-2007, state-level income inequality is associated with state-level IMR; to examine whether the overall effect of income inequality on IMR over this period varies by state; to test whether the association between income inequality and IMR varies across this time period. IMR data - number of deaths per 1000 live births in a given state and year - were obtained from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Wonder database. Income inequality was measured using the Gini coefficient, which varies from zero (complete equality) to 100 (complete inequality). Covariates included state-level poverty rate, median income, and proportion of high school graduates. Fixed and random effects regressions were conducted to test hypotheses. Fixed effects models suggested that, overall, during the period 1990-2007, income inequality was inversely associated with IMR(beta = -0.07, SE (0.01)). Random effects models suggested that when the relationship was allowed to vary at the state-level, it remained inverse (beta = -0.05, SE (0.01)). However, an interaction between income inequality and time suggested that, as time increased, the effect of income inequality had an increasingly positive association with total IMR (beta = 0.009, SE (0.002)). The influence of state income inequality on IMR is dependent on time, which may proxy for time-dependent aspects of societal context. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.